The present invention is an improved ergonomic shoulder strap for guitar and other instruments.
Most guitar straps feature nothing more than a two inch wide strap, made of leather or nylon webbing (with no padding) that goes over the shoulder to support the weight of the guitar. A few guitar straps have various types and sizes of pads for the shoulder, but to accommodate different body shapes, sizes, and guitar positions, the pad must be movable along the length of the strap to keep it positioned on top of the shoulder thereby providing comfort. This adjustment is accomplished in some cases, as in the published patent application to Walker, US 2004/0094585, by running the strap through a series of loops over the top of the pad, thus allowing the pad to be moved along the length of the strap. The drawback of this type of pad arrangement is that the load is not applied to the full width of the pad because the portion of the pad that extends out beyond the two inch width of the strap will, due to its softness, flex upward away from the body, thereby not supporting the load which the strap is applying to it.
Sameniego, U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,801, discloses a variation of this pad arrangement wherein, for movement of the pad along the length of the strap, the pad or cushion is detachably connected in one of several different positions on the strap using hook and loop fasteners, such as Velcro stripping. More recently, Kelly discloses in U.S. published patent application no. US 2004/006095 A1, the use of a flexible bladder as a pad. The bladder is inflatable or pre-filled and may be formed integrally with or removably placed onto the strap. A valve in the bladder permits inflation with a gas, a liquid or a gel.
The most common known method of adjustment of the length of a guitar strap is the use of a sliding buckle attached permanently to one end of the strap. The other end of the strap is threaded through the buckle to form a loop in the guitar strap. The buckle is slid relative to the strap end threaded there through to adjust, e.g. shorten or lengthen, the guitar strap. In order to adjust the sliding buckle, the strap has to be taken off the shoulder and off the guitar, the buckle adjusted, then the guitar strap must be reinstalled on the shoulder and the guitar to check for proper adjustment. If further adjustment is required, this process must be repeated until adjustment is to the user's liking.
Another known method of adjusting the length of a guitar strap involves the use of a narrow one inch wide strap that is threaded through a slot in a two inch wide strap, then doubled back and buttoned to itself in one of several positions to change the length of the strap assembly.
Still another known method involves the use of a one piece strap having several button holes in a row on the back end of the strap which allows the back of the guitar to attach in several locations, thus changing the effective strap length and, in turn, the height of the guitar for the player. While these two methods may be easier to adjust than a sliding buckle, they offer very limited adjustability.
There is a need for an improved cushioning guitar strap that is simple, easy to use, and adaptable to a wide range of body shapes, sizes and guitar positions, while providing improved cushioning of the shoulder under the load of the guitar.